Group Sounds Warning On Gang Threat

August 08, 1995|By Sheridan Chaney, Special to the Tribune.

South Side Chicagoan Robert Parfitt encountered gangs each of the half-dozen times he moved his family to different Chicago neighborhoods. The family finally packed up last summer and headed for Lake in the Hills.

They thought the quiet town of about 14,000 residents would be an escape from the violence and intimidation, until Parfitt began reading newspaper reports of gang activity in McHenry County. Then he took a closer look at some of the town's teens and began confirming his suspicions.

"You can just about look at some of these kids and tell which ones have gang affiliations. I see them walking down the street in Lake in the Hills," Parfitt said.

Parfitt is the president of the Lake in the Hills chapter of Communities Against Gangs, which drew about 75 residents to an organizational meeting Monday night.

McHenry County State's Atty. Gary Pack, Lake in the Hills Police Chief James Wales, and Les Lunsmann of the North Central Narcotics Task Force gang unit were among the speakers.

"Everybody takes these (gang) crimes very seriously even though they tend to not look so serious," said Pack, describing the county's zero gang-tolerance policy.

"In my opinion if there's one gang member in a community, we have a problem," Lunsmann said.

Gangs are probably the single greatest threat to the quiet lifestyle enjoyed by most Lake in the Hills citizens, according to Phyllis K. Walters, McHenry County president of Communities Against Gangs.

Gang activity in McHenry County is minimal, according to law enforcement officials, and most residents agree that the problem hasn't compromised the quality of life in their communities yet. But they are pointing fingers at nearby cities to explain their concerns.

Elgin, Carpentersville, Aurora and Rockford are vivid examples of communities that acted too slowly to stop an insurgence of street gangs, according to Pack.

"They wouldn't recognize the problem until it was too late," Pack said.

Meanwhile, parents in several other McHenry County communities are heeding the warnings from law enforcement officials and leading the charge for organized gang resistance. Communities Against Gangs chapters are in place in Woodstock, Marengo, Huntley and Algonquin.

Members of the McHenry County Police Chiefs Association spent nearly eight months drawing up a sample anti-gang ordinance to offer their respective elected officials.

Their proposal gives specifics about what constitutes gang activity, Wales said, but is not as open to constitutional challenges as the highly publicized measure approved in Harvard.

The Harvard law prohibits people from wearing certain colors, clothes, baseball caps and tattoos. The ordinance is being challenged by a 15-year-old boy arrested for wearing a necklace with a six-pointed star.

The sample ordinance expected to be considered by Lake in the Hills trustees prohibits intentional displays of gang colors and symbols, bans loitering and intimidation, sets fines of no less than $400 for each offense and holds parents responsible for their children's gang activities. A version of the ordinance was approved reacently in neighboring Algonquin.

The McHenry County state's attorney's office established a gang-crimes division nine months ago. During that time, it has prosecuted 48 defendants described as "hard core" gang members by Assistant State's Atty. Philip Prossnitz.

Most of the charges filed against them-aggravated battery theft, robbery and mob action-are minor compared with inner-city gang activity. But there is the potential for increased violence and drug dealing, Prossnitz said.

"I always compare it to the discovery of a cancerous tumor. It might not be life-threatening, but you're going to constantly keep an eye on it," Prossnitz said. "There's a fine line between educating people and terrifying people. We think it's a presence, not a problem. But we're surrounded by areas that have a problem."